The two things outstanding candidates do in interviews

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My tech leads and I reviewed over 100 CVs and interviewed dozens of developers recently. The outstanding candidates had two things in common.

They display understanding

You can see when someone is scratching their head trying to remember “the right answer”.

You could memorize that “arteries are red and veins are blue”. Textbook answer! But I’ll let you in on a secret. That’s not what we’re looking for.

We’re exploring your understanding, not testing your memory. When you truly understand something you’re able to put it in your own words and explain the why.

Top candidates would say: “Arteries carry oxygen-rich blood from the heart. So they‘re red. Veins carry blood low in oxygen back to the heart. So they‘re blue”.

They treat the interview as a conversation not a test

They’ll often answer our questions with clarifying questions of their own. They might ask: “When you say X do you mean Y or Z?” or “That depends, what is the context?”

They also don’t ramble. They typically answer briefly and say: “Does that answer your question or would you like me to elaborate?”

And just like in an everyday conversation, when they don’t have a clue, they simply say so.